During this blog post, we’re going to talk about a variety of beginner basketball drills that are ideal for training and conditioning your players to be the best they can be on the court.
Side Skips
Skipping sideways, cross over using the knee and hip. These are small steps. Fast hips make fast feet, so have your players focus on rotating those hips.
Remember that the feet will always follow the hips. Keep your toe pulled up toward your shin. Keep the leg in a power position to step down to the ground.
Lateral Skip
Get your skipping rhythm by skipping in place. Keep the feet a little bit wide–we don’t want one close to the other. We want to have a wide base of support for balance.
Step down to the ground. Push away from the direction you want to go. Reinforce a good athletic position as you get used to doing this drill.
Crossover Skip
For this beginner basketball drill, you’ll want your players to use a line. Have your player skip and cross over and then skip and cross back. This uses a lot of hip rotation and body control. Balance, agility, it’s all involved here.
Turn Ons
Here we want to turn on and off the speed. Start slow, then turn on the speed.
We want to shock the system into accepting the change of speed on our command. This is a simple drill that forces faster foot action.
Now do the same thing, skipping. Get your skipping rhythm as you go slow and then speed it up. Step down to the ground as you skip quickly. This is great for creating better rhythm and power down at the ground for speed and acceleration.
Use the width of the court or the distance from the baseline to mid court. Down and back is one repetition. Do three sets of three repetitions.
Skippiocca
Do your carioca with a skipping rhythm. We want that double foot contact to teach the brain and the muscles to respond quicker for more explosive response on the court.
We have to train the body to be quick. We can’t just accept what we think is our own speed. Challenge it and make it better.
Drop Skip
Point the knees outward. Step down quick by rotating the hips. We want to be able to open those hips for great defensive play. Remind your players to keep a wide base of support and use the hips to move the feet.
Line Drills
For this series of drills, your players will first do two-foot jumps and one-foot hops using a line. This is touch and go.
Remind your players to keep the toes pulled up toward the shins and to not stab the toes into the ground. They should focus on controlling the core by sucking in the belly button and tucking in the back.
One-foot hops are next–over and back is one. Do five, then switch and do the other foot. Your players should do a total of three sets of five.
Now have your players face the line. They should go forward and back over the line as quick as they can while trying not to stab the toes into the ground. Instead, they should bounce off the front part of the foot.
Next is ski jumping side to side over the line, both feet at the same time as you touch and go side to side. This is short and quick.
Ski hops are next. These are one-foot hops side to side as you move forward. These are great for balance, agility, change in direction, which are all super athletic skills that transfer to sport-specific performance.
Ball Drops
For this beginner basketball drill, have your players start from a good athletic position. When the ball drops, they should break into a full sprint, trying to get to the ball before it bounces twice.
This is a great drill for first-step explosion. Your players should start with a good wide base of support, then jump forward, pushing down into the ground.
Next, do ball drops with a crossover. Starting from our good athletic position, when the ball drops, we cross over, explode into a sprint, and go get the ball. Make sure you work both directions. Balance the body by doing a crossover with each leg. Use that knee and hip to explode and cross over.
Next go with a drop step. Our athlete is facing away. Hold the ball out, say “ball,” and drop it at the same time. We open up the hip, step down and back, and go get the ball.
Push away from the direction you want to go. When you’re down there and set, push those toes through the end of the shoes.
These conditioning drills are sure to get your players working on their speed, balance, agility, and power–and are sure to get them ready for the next game.
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